The Twelve Days of Christmas
by Shine Q
Summary: What happens when Duo is left to plan for Quatre's presents from Trowa?


**Note: **I am aware that Quatre is Arabian and probably does not celebrate Christmas. I did write this, however, without taking that into consideration. Please forgive the inaccuracy.****

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**The Twelve Days of Christmas**

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The snow was falling gently as two figures exited a red-bricked house whose chimney was currently emitting white smoke. The smoke quickly dispersed into the cold air, blending itself with the rest of the atmosphere. 

The taller figure was walking gracefully with both hands in pockets while his companion skipped playfully beside him. Every now and then, the 'rope-like' braid behind his head would whip the back of his unmindful companion.

"So, Trowa, how long are you going to be out?"

"Not long."

"Are you going to be back before Christmas?"

"...don't know"

"Have you told Quatre?"

"Yes."

"How'd he take it?"

"He's fine."

Frustration was inevitable for the braided one who stopped his companion. He reached one hand out at Trowa. He put his thumb on a cheek, four fingers on the other cheek and forced the uncooperative mouth open. Looking unsuccessful, he continued, this time using both hands to attempt to elicit a sound from the unwilling vocal chords. 

"Trowa, has anyone ever told you that you're not a very good conversationalist."

"Yes."

Duo let go of the unreceptive face and looked at him quizzically. 

"I wonder how Quatre gets along with you?"

"He manages."

Duo sighed knowing that he should have gotten used to his silent companion by now. An irritated look crossed his face but it faded just as quickly as it came.

"What are you going to give him for Christmas?"

"I don't know."

Suddenly, the blank face was filled with confusion. It was quite obvious to Duo that Trowa had no idea of what he was going to give Quatre for Christmas. He thought for a moment and then remembered a romantic gift that he had thought of previously.

He took his friend's arm and pulled him forward, drawing out a surprised "Duo!"

Unfazed, Duo continued tugging and said "Trowa, I promise you, by the time you get back, Quatre will be all over you."

******************************

"Now..." Duo was talking to himself. "Before I look for these things, I have to know what they mean."

He opened up a dictionary and began writing a list.

"This will be my year's good Christmas deed!" he said proudly.

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Day One:

Quatre got up early in the morning and opened the front door to get the daily newspaper. To his surprise, there was a very large box with an equally large ribbon attached to it laying right before his eyes.

"I wonder what this is?" he thought to himself.

He picked up the card attached to the box.

"From your true love." it said.

At those words, his eyes sparkled with mirth and his heart instantly radiated, melting with the thought of just how sweet his true love had been.

He pulled out the ribbon and when the box opened, it revealed a shrub of some sort with a bird attached to it on one side and a fruit on the other. The tape that held them together was coming off as the bird furiously tried to break free.

"What the ...?" Quatre trailed off as he scratched his head in confusion.

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_On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me_

_A partridge in a pear tree._

******************************

Day Two: 

Quatre had just put aside Trowa's peculiar gift in the backyard when the doorbell suddenly rang. Excited at Trowa's possible return, he ran for the door and opened it. To his disappointment, it wasn't Trowa. There was, however, another present before him.

Once again, he couldn't contain his excitement as he opened the box.

"Ahh! It's a mutated turtle!" he shrieked.

He hesitantly looked at the gift before him and noticed that it wasn't a mutant after all.

On his front step were two turtles, each with a dove taped to their backs.

"Huh?" he asked no one in particular. He just shrugged and picked up the card that had fallen on the ground. It read "From your true love."

******************************

_On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me_

_Two turtle doves_

_and a partridge in a pear tree._

******************************

Day Three:

Quatre was having some tea in the backyard while watching his newly acquired presents, contemplating on what Trowa had meant by those presents.

He was immediately interrupted, however, from his silent reverie when the doorbell rang. This time, he was not as excited when he made his way to the door calmly.

As expected, he found another box with a card that read "From your true love." 

He opened the box and to his surprise, three hens suddenly jumped out of it.

He fell back from shock and picked up one of them. It had a card taped to it's back. He plucked it out and read the message.

"Elisabeth" it read.

"Umm, he named them?" he asked himself.

He continued doing the same with the two other hens. The next card read "Antoinette" and the last one read "Beatrix."

******************************

_On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me_

_Three French hens, two turtle doves,_

_and a partridge in a pear tree._

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Day Four:

Quatre wrung his fingers together and started debating with himself if he should call Trowa and ask him about the presents right away. He was seriously getting nervous. He didn't know when Trowa was going to return and he honestly did not understand the unconventional gifts.

As before, the doorbell rang. He headed for the door and hoped that this time, it would be Trowa. Unfortunately, there it was again, another box that had a card that read "From your true love."

He had second thoughts about opening the box but decided that he was just becoming paranoid. He opened it and, immediately, four birds struggled to come out of the box. They each had telephone receivers taped on them. 

Not far away, a voice could be hear yelling "Young man! Stop playing with those poor animals!"

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_On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me_

_Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves_

_and apartridge in a pear tree._

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Day Five:

"I think that I'm going crazy!" Quatre said to himself. He looked from left to right, up and down, and checked for anything that would indicate otherwise.

He looked outside and noticed his growing collection of birds. The doorbell rang again and he walked slowly to the door, very afraid of what new type of bird he was going to get that day. 

He started to doubt that it was Trowa sending all those presents. For all he knew, it might have been some other secret admirer with a sick, twisted mind. Yes, that was it! Trowa couldn't possibly be that crazy to send him uncanny presents.

The person on the other side of the door seemed to grow impatient as the doorbell rang over and over again.

Quatre grabbed the vase from a table nearby and opened the door, intending on pounding whatever was on the other side.

Just as he was about to hit the vase on the head of the person who had visited, his eyes met another set of familiar eyes. He put the vase down and calmed down his growing hysteria.

"Duo, what are you doing here?"

Duo handed Quatre a small velvet box and said, smiling brightly "From your true love."

Quatre looked at him, question evident in his eyes.

"Your true love .... Trowa, of course!"

Quatre opened the box and his eyes sparkled yet again as he found a golden ring carefully located within. He looked at it lovingly from all angles and then noticed an inscription on the inner side.

"Made in China?" Quatre asked out loud, once again confused.

The words seemed to frighten Duo as he handed Quatre four identical boxes and ran off to an unknown direction.

"I'm not that rich, you know!" Duo said to nobody in particular as he ran across the street.

******************************

_On the fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to me,_

_Five golden rings._

_Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves_

_and a partridge in a pear tree._

******************************

Day Six:

Quatre woke up even earlier that morning. He walked down the stairs and held on to the handrail.Oh his fingers were the five golden rings he had received the day before. To his surprise, his newest present had already been left on the front door.

He didn't bother looking at the card because he already knew what was going to be on it. He opened the box and, just as he predicted, birds were inside, geese in particular.

"And I thought my true love gave up on birds." he said dryly. He put a bird under each arm, intending on placing them in the backyard together with all of Trowa's other presents. When he came back for the four others, he was surprised to find the box filled with eggs.

"What? Is this egg laying season?" he screamed to the top of his lungs.

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_On the sixth day of Christmas my true love sent to me,_

_Six geese a-laying,_

_Five golden rings._

_Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves_

_and a partridge in a pear tree._

******************************

Day Seven:

Quatre's veins were throbbing from his forehead. He hadn't slept well the night before because his new 'pets' were not getting along with each other. Who knew birds could be so loud?

When the doorbell rang, he stomped to the door, anger filling his entire being. As expected, there was another present by the door. This time, though, it wasn't placed in a box.

His hands were shaking in annoyance as he reached for a card stuck on one of the birds' forehead. It read "From your true love."

He ripped the card in half and started to pull the blow up, child swimming pool to the backyard, ignoring the protests of the swans who were now being soaked by the unsteady flow of water.

"Seven more lovely additions!" Quatre screamed. 

"Trowa, if you wanted me to build a bird sanctuary, then you should've just told me about it in the first place!" Each word was said with increasing volume, getting the attention of the entire neighborhood.

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_On the seventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me,_

_Seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying, _

_Five golden rings._

_Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves_

_and a partridge in a pear tree._

****************************** 

Day Eight:

Duo picked up some reading glasses and looked over a list that was on his table. 

"Ok, that was eight. A few more and I'm done."

He checked off the accomplished tasks and bit the end of his pencil as he tried to figure out how to acquire the rest of the things he needed.

"This is costing a lot of money!" he said.

"Those birds were easy but this ..." he tapped his pencil on the paper "... is getting harder. Quatre should be receiving those cows and ladies any time soon."

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_On the eight day of Christmas my true love sent to me,_

_Eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying,_

_Five golden rings._

_Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves_

_and a partridge in a pear tree._

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Day Nine:

"I don't care if your true love sent these to you, young man!" an old lady said as she was scolding Quatre. "This had better stop, NOW!"

"Yeah!" three more angry neighbors joined in.

"How would you explain all those women over there?"

"...dressing them up as milkmaids! You are a very corrupt young man!"

"...and don't forget about his nine newly acquired private dancers."

Quatre stood in the middle and kept his mouth closed as four furious neighbors lectured him on the 'rights of animals' and the 'morals of proper young men'.

While listening patiently, he promised death upon the return his true love.

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_On the ninth day of Christmas my true love sent to me,_

_Nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying,_

_Five golden rings._

_Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves_

_and a partridge in a pear tree._

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Day Ten:

"Duo, this better be good." Trowa's voice was calm as he talked to Duo from the other end of the line.

"You should thank me. I've been delivering your presents to Quatre."

"My presents?" Trowa asked.

"Yeah, remember what we talked about?"

"What?" 

Trowa couldn't continue any further on the tight rope while holding the phone. He fell off and landed gently on the net below.

"Quatre's going to kill me." he said. "I better find away to fix this."

He counted with his fingers and stopped on number ten.

"Where in the world would Duo get ten lords a-leaping?"

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_On the tenth day of Christmas my true love sent to me,_

_Ten lords a-leaping, nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying,_

_Five golden rings._

_Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves_

_and a partridge in a pear tree._

******************************

Day Eleven:

"Ok, let's see ..." Quatre said as he was counting his presents from the stairway.

"We're pipers." a man said.

"... and what are you supposed to do?" Quatre asked.

"We're supposed to play pipes?"

"I know that!" Quatre was furious, rage threatening to endanger anyone within his reach. 

He was very tired and he knew that he had to look forward to another restless day.He had to share his room and his entire household with eight milkmaids, nine women from some dance troupe, ten Russian male ballet dancers in weird outfits, and now he had eleven new lovely pipers.

"... and you are?" Quatre had to ask.

"Why, from your true love, of course."

Quatre, having gone through enough shocks for the past few days, gave into his exhaustion and fainted.

His 'presents' quickly ran to his side, including his new collection of birds who had made themselves at home in the confines of the Christmas tree.

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_On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me,_

_Eleven pipers piping, ten lords a-leaping, nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying,_

_Five golden rings._

_Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves_

_and a partridge in a pear tree._

******************************

Day Twelve:

Quatre was almost in tears as he sat hopelessly on the floor in front of his door. In the past eleven days, he had gone from excited, to confused, to paranoid, to absolutely furious. Now, he was just desperate. He was desperate to rid his house of everything he had acquired and he was also desperate to see Trowa. Twelve days had been more than enough for him to completely loose his mind.

The doorbell rang as it had been doing ever since he got his first gift. He took out a shotgun, almost in the brink of hysteria, and opened the door. As soon as it opened completely, he pointed the gun at the very first object that came into contact with it.

"Whoa!" Duo was caught off guard. "What's wrong with you?"

"Who are you supposed to be?" Quatre didn't answer the question.

"Why, the twelfth drummer boy, of course. From your true love."

Quatre couldn't help but break down in tears as he offered entry to all the elegantly dressed drummer boys that were standing by his front door.

"What's wrong, buddy?" Duo asked. 

"Trowa" was all Quatre could say between sobs.

"Quatre! All of these are Trowa's presents. Twelve drummers, eleven pipers, ten lords, nine ladies, eight maids, seven swans, six geese, umm..." he paused to think.

"Five golden rings!" he exclaimed, starting to sing the rest of the Christmas song. "Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree!"

He finished proudly, admiring his memory skills, but Quatre interrupted his self-admiration.

"Duo."

"Yes, Quatre?"

"Shut up!"

Before Duo could even protest the rude remark, the back door opened and a smooth, deep, calm voice called out.

"Quatre, your true love is home!"

Quatre looked back and forgot all about his recent death threats. Without a second thought, he quickly ran over to his true love who was dressed in a Santa outfit. His arms clung to Trowa's neck and his legs to the waist. He sobbed uncontrollably on Trowa's neck as Trowa glared at Duo.

He tried to calm down the weeping bundle in his arms and said "Merry Christmas, love."

Quatre wiped away his tears and stopped crying, but he just clung on harder. Trowa rubbed his back in comfort and then noticed just how disorganized his place had become since the last time he had seen it. 

Strangers were all over the place. He was assuming they were all part of 'his' presents. They had their pillows and blankets all over the living room. That meant that they had been staying over for the past few days. 

Birds were flying everywhere in groups that seemed to be in battle with each other. The Christmas tree now had nests embedded within them. Something peculiar also caught his eye. Off to the far corner were a couple of eggs hatching. 

He looked at Duo and gave him another one of his looks that promised death. Duo just shrugged and gave Trowa a wicked smile. He said "I told you he was going to be all over you." 

Trowa smiled at his now sleeping present and kissed him on top of his golden head.

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_On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me,_

_Twelve drummers drumming, eleven pipers piping, ten lords a-leaping, nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying,_

_Five golden rings._

_Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves_

_and a partridge in a pear tree!_

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Christmas Song from: [http://www.myholidayplace.com/christmas/carols/12days.htm][1]

   [1]: http://www.myholidayplace.com/christmas/carols/12days.htm



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